Dragon Sea Empire

The next day, Xu Guangqi, Sheng Yihong, Yuan Chonghuan, Zhang Ye, Zhou Xiang from a hundred households of Jinyiwei, and the other five mission members belonging to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites rushed to the Qimen in the north of Suzhou City. Zhou Xiang, a hundred households of Jinyiwei, was the one who drew lots. The unlucky guy who drew the unlucky lottery followed You Wenhui to Guazhou to contact the pirates, and was captured after being overthrown by Liu Xiang's soldiers. After You Wenhui returned to Yangzhou, he was still detained in Guazhou until Xu Guangqi led the imperial mission to the south. After he was released, he followed Xu Guangqi all the way to Suzhou.

Because it was still early, Xu Guangqi and his party wore their regular official uniforms and stood inside Qimen and waited for a while. After Qimen opened, a large group of ordinary people passed by them and hurriedly went to work in the city. Making money, completely ignoring the great angels who are close at hand.

Xu Guangqi and others passed through the urn city, squeezed out the city gate, and crossed the suspension bridge, but saw the hardworking people from the south of the Yangtze River coming from the four towns and eight towns, and the citizens in Suzhou city rushing out of the city with their old and young. On the second day of "Lixia", there is a proverb in Suzhou that "Lixia sees three new things". The three new things are cherries, green plums, and wheat, which are used to worship ancestors. At the same time, taking advantage of this season, farmers from the countryside also come to the city to buy and sell local products.

It can be seen that this war in the south of the Yangtze River did not have a great impact on the lives of ordinary people. Xu Guangqi and others clearly saw that although the lives of the local people were not rich, at least they were more stable and more stable than those under the Ming Dynasty. There is hope. Moreover, the three-year tax-free policy of the Chinese army, and the policies of "government, gentry and civilians paying food in one package" and "spreading into the mu" implemented after tax collection are now much better than the Ming Dynasty's heavy taxation policy for the Jiangnan area Many, has won the support of a large number of self-cultivators, tenants and small and medium landlords in the south of the Yangtze River.

A large number of local people participated in the armed training of the factories, shops, and guard houses of the Chinese company, the tax office, and the militia. Even if the Ming Dynasty could take back the ruling power in these areas, it is really difficult to take back these people’s hearts. up.

Xu Guangqi and others felt deeply worried. At the same time, they really wanted to know: How did the Chinese Army maintain the logistics supplies of its own army and the local people without relying on scrapping land, imposing heavy taxes, or robbing wealthy households or ordinary people for many years? Fighting morale.

Xu Guangqi didn't have any hopes for this trip to the "Sea Bandit Army" barracks, but now he began to hope to find some answers to his questions in the Chinese Army barracks.

Chen Zhongji believed that he lacked regular military training, so he did not come to receive the Ming imperial envoy to inspect the barracks. Zeng Yue, as Yin Feng's personal representative, accompanied Xu Guangqi and others to visit the barracks.

Xu Guangqi and others visited and inspected the [-]st Battalion of the [-]nd Regiment of the [-]th Division. The camp was just one mile outside the Qi Gate in the north of Suzhou City, on the edge of Yangcheng West Lake. This camp was originally the old camp of the [-]th Division, and it was built to accommodate a regiment of soldiers. Yes, now there is only one battalion of infantry, one sentinel artillery and a part of the fourth division's supply battalion.

Lieutenant General Luo Quanxiu, Commander of the Fourth Division, Major General Mai Yangtian, Supervisor of the Fourth Division, and Major Guo Huaiyi, Commander of the First Battalion of the Second Regiment of the Fourth Division, were riding horses outside the gate of the barracks in full armor, with banners on the side of the road Zhaozhan, a hundred infantry soldiers armed with live ammunition lined up on both sides to welcome the imperial envoys of the Ming Dynasty.

Guo Huaiyi just turned 20 years old this year. He was originally from Tong’an, Quanzhou, Fujian. In Wanli 42, he came to Taiwan following the wave of immigrants set off by Yin Feng. He was fooled by the company’s recruiters and went to Luzon Island. Work, because of his boldness and bravery, he became the little leader of Zhuang Ding's team.

Afterwards, Guo Huaiyi performed very well in suppressing the rebellion of the indigenous Pangbangya people, and was selected to study in the crash course for non-commissioned officers in the Chinese Military Academy. , was selected to study in the Infantry Division of the Military Academy, and then practiced in the Staff Headquarters of the Second Division Commander Mai De. On the Liaodong battlefield, Guo Huaiyi was transferred to the front-line combat troops and participated in several battles. .

Now, Guo Huaiyi has just been transferred to the battalion commander after last year's big purge.

Guo Huaiyi, wearing a full set of combat uniforms and armor, rode a horse and stood at the gate of the barracks. With his head, he saw the imperial envoy's festival flag waving in the distance. He snorted and said to Luo Quanxiu: "Lieutenant General Luo, it is necessary to welcome you so grandly." are they?"

The order to confer the ranks of the first batch of generals was issued just yesterday, but a grand conferment ceremony is still missing.

Yin Feng has already issued a military rank awarding order, and two large-scale general awarding ceremonies will be held in Luzon and Liaodong in August this year.

The freshly-baked lieutenant general Luo Quanxiu was very satisfied with the rank Guo Huaiyi called him. He regarded this capable young man very highly, and said with a smile: "This is an angel who acts on behalf of the emperor. It is reasonable for us to kneel down and kowtow, according to you. ,what should we do,"

"Kneel down to them, why didn't you see this angel when my family starved to death?"

Luo Quanxiu sighed secretly. Guo Huaiyi went to Taiwan because he couldn't live in his hometown. After he left home, many people in his family starved to death in the famine.

Guo Huaiyi was young after all, he put aside his miserable life history in the blink of an eye, rubbed his forehead and said with a smile: "In my opinion, why should you be so polite to them and just ask them to visit an actual combat exercise, so that you can be intimidated by real swords and guns?" them,"

Luo Quanxiu laughed: "That's not necessary. Our army has already intimidated them enough on the battlefield. Now, let's show you our daily training in the barracks. The real strength of an army can not only be reflected On the battlefield, it can also be reflected in the barracks."

When Xu Guangqi and other imperial envoys came to the gate of the barracks, they saw the crowd standing silently on both sides of the avenue, the soldiers were in good order, and the bayonets on the muskets were shining, so they couldn't help becoming serious.

In the Chinese Army, kneeling etiquette is not allowed, and there will be no officers to call their names. This makes Qianhu Zhang Ye and Baihu Zhou Xiang, who are generals, not used to it. Not only that, in front of these angels, in the Chinese Army and the Chinese company , All kinds of people in the guarding mansion treat them equally and confidently. This is something that Xu Guangqi and others are deeply uncomfortable with. However, they have nothing to say about this, and even if they say so, the other party Also ignore them.

Seeing that Angel Daying and his party were approaching the gate of the camp, Guo Huaiyi gave a loud order: "Put the gun on your shoulder."

A hundred guards of honor made corresponding actions almost at the same time.

"Raise the gun,"

"put,"

A hundred soldiers fired guns into the sky at the same time, and the sudden sound of the gunshots almost frightened Zhou Xiang, a hundred households of Jinyiwei, to the point of weakness. Ever since he was captured by Liu Xiang's subordinates, he had always been very afraid of the Chinese army. .

At this time, there was a continuous salute of guns in the barracks.

Xu Guangqi and the others stopped and looked around. Zeng Yue took a few steps forward and explained, "Master Xu, this is the highest military salute in our army."

Xu Guangqi nodded without making a sound. Guo Huaiyi pulled out his sword, jumped off his horse, walked up to Xu Guangqi and stood at attention to salute. "

Xu Guangqi bowed his hands in return, and bowed his hands to Luo Quanxiu and Mai Yangtian behind Guo Huaiyi.

Surrounded by the Chinese army, Xu Guangqi and his party entered the barracks amidst the sound of rumbling gun salutes.

Jinyiwei Qianhu Zhang Ye was born in a family of military households and warriors. He was originally a hereditary Jinyiwei military post after Jing Nan's meritorious service. He has been in and out of military camps since he was a child. It feels strange.

The Ming army used to have a very strict management system for the barracks, that is, the set of rules and regulations revised and established by Qi Jiguang, but up to now, the Ming army has decayed as a whole. After Qi Jiguang, the imperial court recruited troops and battalions by this time, they were already corrupt.

The Guanning Army in western Liaoning has already shown a tendency to become a warlord, and the Nine Frontier Army, after Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun's rectification, has undergone decades of changes, and has also formed a local general with a small number of private soldiers to control many small soldiers and miscellaneous soldiers. The posture of the soldiers.

A few years ago, the Chinese pirates attacked the eastern suburbs of the capital. Zhang Ye had seen the troops of the Ming army from all over the country who came to King Qin. Many soldiers brought their families with them in the barracks, and even drank and gambled in the barracks. a bazaar.

Even for the troops of the three major battalions of the capital, there is a serious shortage in the barracks. Many soldiers only exist in the account books. Every three or five days, when the clock is on, they are all filled by local hooligans, old, young and disabled. Fuck, during the big drill every ten days, the officers often hire some strong men on the streets to stand in line and pretend to show the superiors. On weekdays, there are few people in the barracks, and the soldiers are often owed wages. They couldn't make a living, so they could only go out to do part-time labor and farm to earn money.

When fighting, the officers and generals rely on the family and private soldiers that they usually support as the backbone, and use ordinary soldiers as cannon fodder. The barracks that turn off the lights and stand in line after hearing the sound of the golden drum are already a strong and disciplined army.

But the Chinese army barracks in front of him was completely beyond his imagination. Not only were the tents set up in an orderly manner, but the ground was leveled and cleaned.

All the soldiers in the entire barracks lined up in rows of three and in columns of two. The superiors and the subordinates saluted each other as if they were ceremonial. Throughout the entire Ming army, no Ming army could have such a barracks.

At this time, the soldiers of the first battalion were all gathered in the big playground, arranged in a tight square formation waiting to be inspected. A wooden high platform was temporarily built in front of the square formation. On the bamboo chair, Guo Huai stood at attention and saluted Xu Guangqi: "There are 550 people from the First Battalion of the Second Regiment of the Second Division, and the actual number of registered people is 545. All of them are here now, waiting for your inspection,"